A 73 year man dies of heart attack in bank queue in Mulund Mumbai

Demonetisation: Man dies at ATM queue in Mumbai

It has been difficult to withdraw money from banks to meet the day to day expenses. There has been a big rush at the ATMs and in this chaotic situation a 73-year-old man collapsed and died in a queue before a bank as people rushed at cash counters to get their currency exchanged.Vishwanath Vartak, who was standing in the queue before an SBI branch for exchanging currency, collapsed and died on the spot at Navghar in Mulund in eastern suburbs, police said. Vartak had been standing for hours in the queue to exchange Rs 1000 and Rs 500 denomination notes. Though he was rushed to hospital by some people who saw him collapse, he was declared dead before admission, police said.

People had been running out of money and ATMs not working had made the situation worse. ATMs of various banks in south Mumbai, Lalbaugh, Parel, Dadar, Andheri, Ghatkopar and Mulund were found to be out of service and not dispensing money, forcing people to return empty-handed.

Banks were clearly not prepared for this. A daily wage worker who buys ‘rashan’ for 2 or 3 days needs money to buy food but this failed bank system makes it difficult for him. Steps need to be taken to increase the supply of new currency and they need to be taken as soon as possible.